Psychoville series 2 episode 1 spoiler-free review

The brilliant Psychoville returns for a second season. Here's our spoiler-free review of a superb opening episode...

Psychoville review: Series 2 Episode 1

Dark, twisted and incredibly funny, Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pembleton's macabre creation, Psychoville, returns for its second series tonight. The show left fans frustrated and drooling with anticipation after a surprise cliff-hanger at the end of the last outing, and while it doesn't answer many of the questions that the fans asked, that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Psychoville series 2 episode 1 review

Psychoville's back for more horror comedy, and this first episode is a great start to the second season. Here's our spoiler-filled review...

Steve Pemberton interview: Psychoville

With macabre comedy Psychoville back on our screens for a second season, we chat to writer and performer Steve Pemberton about the series...

Review: 'Psychoville' 2.1

Psychoville's back and it's as pleasingly peculiar and blissfully freakish as usual, with a fun script brought to life by a talented cast.

Psychoville gets creepier than ever

It was a great start to the second series, an episode once again mixing chills with laughs and a dramatic ending. I'm hooked again.

Psychoville: series 2, episode 1

Airing from June 18, 2009 for seven episodes, the first series of Psychoville was an interesting, darkly humourous experience. Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton, better known for their work on League of Gentlemen, brought forth a colourful and varied cast of demented characters who brought the show to life, as well as a story arc that blended terror and fun brilliantly. There was also a 2010 Halloween special for the show that maintained its splendour, and now it has returned again for a second series. The first episode may not be as good as most of the preceding series, but still begins another story that should be worth following.

More comic horror of the exceedingly surreal variety from The League of Gentlemen veterans Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton. Following on from the dastardly denouement of series one, we open tonight with the survivors of the explosion at Ravenhill Psychiatric Hospital reuniting, graveside, to bury one of their number who was killed in the blast. But now it seems they face a new threat in the guise of the mysterious Grace Andrews (Imelda Staunton) and her grovelling henchman, Kelvin (Daniel Ings).

The barmy brainchild of League of Gentlemen alumni Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith, comedy thriller Psychoville returns for a mildly disappointing second series, in which their army of grotesques is plunged into a new set of mysteries.

Despite feeling short-changed by its ending (an anti-climax knowingly mocked within this opening instalment), I thoroughly enjoyed series one. But having watched the first four episodes of this sequel, it appears to be treading water. It just doesn't feel as fresh or compelling as before, which is to say, it's still more inventive and amusing than most current comedies, but rather patchy by its creator's usual high standards.

Nevertheless, there are moments of inspired lunacy - such as recurring intrusions from a hilariously unnerving apparition known as The Silent Singer, and a ludicrous storyline detailing Mr Lomax's relationship with a certain dead comedian - that redeem the weaker material. Plus, I'll always have time for the twisted pathos and coal-black comedy of Pemberton and Shearsmith, who remain two of the best comic actors in the business: the latter's deranged Tina Turner impression in episode two has to be seen to be believed.

And any comedy in which the epithet "tea-leaf" makes me giggle, no matter how often it's uttered, has to be doing something right.

Ask the Psychoville agony uncles

It's not easy being a children's entertainer with a prosthetic hand. Or a millionaire with Paradise Syndrome. Thankfully, Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton are here to help.